Associations of BMI with body composition and health outcomes may differ between Asian and European populations. Asian populations have also been shown to have an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia at a relatively low level of BMI. New surgical indication for Asian patients should be discussed by the expert of this field. Forty-four bariatric experts in Asia-Pacific and other regions were chosen to have a voting privilege for IFSO-APC Consensus at the 2nd IFSO-APC Congress. A computerized audience-response voting system was used to analyze the agreement with the sentence of the consensus. Of all delegates, 95% agreed with the necessity of the establishment of IFSO-APC consensus statements, and 98% agreed with the necessity of a new indication for Asian patients. IFSO-APC Consensus statements 2011. Bariatric surgery should be considered for the treatment of obesity for acceptable Asian candidates with BMI ≥ 35 with or without co-morbidities. Bariatric/GI metabolic surgery should be considered for the treatment of T2DM or metabolic syndrome for patients who are inadequately controlled by lifestyle alternations and medical treatment for acceptable Asian candidates with BMI ≥ 30. The surgical approach may be considered as a non-primary alternative to treat inadequately controlled T2DM, or metabolic syndrome, for suitable Asian candidates with BMI ≥ 27.5. Other eight sentences are agreed with by majority of the voting delegates to form IFSO-APC consensus statements. This will help to make safe and wholesome the progress of bariatric and metabolic surgery in Asia.

An uncomplicated gall stone disease can be treated by low pressure laparoscopic cholecystectomy with reasonable safety by an experienced surgeon. Though surgeons experience more difficulty in dissection during low pressure pneumoperitoneum, it is significantly advantageous in terms of postoperative pain, use of analgesics, preservation of pulmonary function, and hospital stay.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is becoming a common cause of liver cirrhosis and a significant number of patients undergoing bariatric surgery suffer with it. There is currently lack of consensus among surgeons regarding safety of bariatric surgery in patients with liver cirrhosis and the best bariatric procedure in these patients. This review investigates published English language scientific literature systematically in an attempt to answer these questions. Eleven studies that reported experience of bariatric surgery in cirrhotic obese patients were included in this review. This review shows an acceptably higher overall risk of complications and perioperative mortality with bariatric surgery in cirrhotic patients. Surgeons must discuss the possibility of an unexpected intraoperative diagnosis of cirrhosis preoperatively with all bariatric surgery patients and agree on a course of action.

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Background There are data on the safety of cancer surgery and the efficacy of preventive strategies on the prevention of postoperative symptomatic COVID-19 in these patients. But there is little such data for any elective surgery. The main objectives of this study were to examine the safety of bariatric surgery (BS) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to determine the efficacy of perioperative COVID-19 protective strategies on postoperative symptomatic COVID-19 rates. Methods We conducted an international cohort study to determine all-cause and COVID-19-specific 30-day morbidity and mortality of BS performed between 01/05/2020 and 31/10/2020. Results Four hundred ninety-nine surgeons from 185 centres in 42 countries provided data on 7704 patients. Elective primary BS (n = 7084) was associated with a 30-day morbidity of 6.76% (n = 479) and a 30-day mortality of 0.14% (n = 10). Emergency BS, revisional BS, insulin-treated type 2 diabetes, and untreated obstructive sleep apnoea were associated with increased complications on multivariable analysis. Forty-three patients developed symptomatic COVID-19 postoperatively, with a higher risk in non-whites. Preoperative self-isolation, preoperative testing for SARS-CoV-2, and surgery in institutions not concurrently treating COVID-19 patients did not reduce the incidence of postoperative COVID-19. Postoperative symptomatic COVID-19 was more likely if the surgery was performed during a COVID-19 peak in that country. Conclusions BS can be performed safely during the COVID-19 pandemic with appropriate perioperative protocols. There was no relationship between preoperative testing for COVID-19 and self-isolation with symptomatic postoperative COVID-19. The risk of postoperative COVID-19 risk was greater in non-whites or if BS was performed during a local peak.

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Summary Background Metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) is an effective treatment for adolescents with severe obesity. Objectives This study examined the safety of MBS in adolescents during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Methods This was a global, multicentre and observational cohort study of MBS performed between May 01, 2020, and October 10,2020, in 68 centres from 24 countries. Data collection included in‐hospital and 30‐day COVID‐19 and surgery‐specific morbidity/mortality. Results One hundred and seventy adolescent patients (mean age: 17.75 ± 1.30 years), mostly females (n = 122, 71.8%), underwent MBS during the study period. The mean pre‐operative weight and body mass index were 122.16 ± 15.92 kg and 43.7 ± 7.11 kg/m2, respectively. Although majority of patients had pre‐operative testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) (n = 146; 85.9%), only 42.4% (n = 72) of the patients were asked to self‐isolate pre‐operatively. Two patients developed symptomatic SARS‐CoV‐2 infection post‐operatively (1.2%). The overall complication rate was 5.3% (n = 9). There was no mortality in this cohort. Conclusions MBS in adolescents with obesity is safe during the COVID‐19 pandemic when performed within the context of local precautionary procedures (such as pre‐operative testing). The 30‐day morbidity rates were similar to those reported pre‐pandemic. These data will help facilitate the safe re‐introduction of MBS services for this group of patients.

Due to the large standard deviations present in both groups, there was no statistical difference between either of the groups in terms of weight loss.